okay explain what do you mean by basic means? Water, air, food and a roof. Why should the government provide for those? Your parents provide you that until you reach an age that you are able to work and get it for yourself. The problem is that now people do not think they have to get a job so that they provide their own means and instead they want someone else to give it to them. You = commie

Every system gets abused which is where the rules and regulations come in. To dismiss public assistance outright is just narrow-minded and selfish. I bet a lot of people who share it would change their tune real quick if they were in the shoes of those requiring government assistance to stay alive or get medical care.

I do not want to see destitute families living in the streets. The government lending a temporary helping hand is one thing, people abusing it and making it a way of life is another. Before the Johnson Administration started the welfare program neighborhoods, cities, church groups and families gave members a helping hand. "Hey, your house burned down. Me and ten of your neighbors are here to help you rebuild." "We heard about your kid having cancer. We took up a collection because you missed work and have to stay home." That kind of solidarity is truly appreciated and speaks volumes about the individuals taking up those causes.

I've met some who decry assistance loudly yet secretly recieve it themselves.
One family I know not only were on welfare while the hubby worked off the books, but collecting in two states, no less. I didn't think this possible till I checked into it, and found out that it was possible. This was 13 years ago, so I don't know if it's different now.
Oh, and at least a couple of them collected SSI as well for bogus reasons.

I've known others who play the system yet yap at the poor like it was a slight of hand cover for what they did.

If someone can't afford contraceptives, they can't afford to have a baby, so let's give them the contraceptives rather than have a baby born into poverty or have to deal with the consequences of an abortion.

Even under government provided contraception, it is still the individuals choice as to whether or not to use it. But we must remember that the more we demand from government, the more they can demand from us to "control costs".

May it is that it cost about $40k to adopt and go through rigorous investigations to be able to adopt in the US. Have you ever wonder why so many in US adopt kids from other countries? It is not their will to adopt, it is the US policies that makes them near impossible to adopt. Educate yourself.

And you have a point. I think the government should provide (not employers or insurers to provide) contraception, but not because it's a "right", because it's a good policy to keep as many irresponsible women as possible from having children.

Correctamundo there, Mister_Fister, you are right 100%. But don't really expect much intelligent feedback from these folk. I gave up on most political memes after a few months. The mouthpieces of the Conservative Ascendency on imgflip are more of the mouth-breathing variety. You'd get better conversation at a frat party with a tanker of mezcal parked outside. Nowadays I just poke my head in once in a while, pop off a sarcastic aside, and then ignore the ill winds created. It's more fun to agitate than instigate.

Actually we do. We have open minds. It's just that many of the conservatives on imgflip don't and they're so easy to agitate. I used to do almost all political memes here but decided the quality of the debate I was getting wasn't high enough. Call me elitist of you want, but I just want my wonderful country not to be run by the ignorant. As to my methods above, eh, it's a great source of fun.

If the trolls choose to troll themselves, why stop them?
Might as well get something positive out of it, like entertainment.

On a forum on another site I'm active on, one comment from me, and one contigency is calling me a right wing jingoist whatever, another day I am declared a left wing liberal yahoo, and all the while I'm just laughing at the myopic assumptions people are making.

You can't be held responsible for the idiocy of other people, but if they want to smear themselves with their own feces in order to send you scurrying to get a hanky, might as well break out the popcorn and watch,,,

It gets boring after awhile, the one dimensional repitition, so now I come here to focus on the fun memes.

Same here - fun memes. I'm pretty much unemotional so others across the aisle insulting me never affects me. Sometimes I feel mischievous and I start poking for entertainment value, but I try to stop before I get cruel. It's not terribly hard to get a right-winger on imgflip p!ssed and their fingers flapping in stupid ways.

That just reminded me of a softball game we were having when I was a kid, and one of them started yelling at his brother real bad about some error. So I yelled out, "It's only a game but my life depends on it."

LOL. Yeah I avoided softball when I was younger as people took it too serious. Good analogy; people take the political memes too seriously. I'm serious about my politics but sometimes when the going gets stupid I feel the need to stir things up to air out the stupidity.

I wasn't good at sports - my folks curtailed my participation and wouldn't let me watch on tv - so I was the last guy picked for the team (although pass me the football and I was unstobble). So to me, a goofup by anyone was no biggie, since I wasn't so wrapped up in it. Que sera, c'est la vie,,,

It's a known fact that people will alter their opinions on political viewpoints regardless of whatever facts presented to them. They simply retroffit them to fit their chosen narrative. So if they're so willfully obtuse, might as well have fun and poke the nest and watch them buzz about looking to kill themselves in the act of stinging.

I've always been a big guy. I remember when I was headed to the course fair they had at my high school before my freshman year an my mom said not to listen to the coaches when they ask you to try out for the football team. I just said something to the fact of "c'mon, they don't just hang out looking for players at the elective fair". Sure enough, I got to my third stop or so and the guy behind the table said "why don't you come by the field at so-and-so time for practice?" :P

I'm not that tall, but have wider shoulders than normal was always stronger/faster than average. My folks were weird. They thought sports would prevent me from learning - oxygen derprivation, I guess, haha,,,

Oh, wow, were, on this thread? I get motion sickness, so searching for pics to meme and scrolling up and down ain't a good combo for me.
I've thought of poking him too, but he's so filled with anger and hate that I think he would just get off on his own butthurt. I almost feel sorry for him. Gosh, I thought my family were testy.

I'm not tall but I've wide shoulders and am the proverbial 'barrel-chested'. As I age some of my beer consumption has given me a bit of a gut but I am successfully working that off recently. As for my mom she just didn't want me getting hurt. I've loved WATCHING sports but I'm not a huge participant.

I don't remember where I got ninja2016 but in the end my two stints in 'improve your commentary' I do believe were the responsibility of a certain Star Wars-named arsehat who trolled me with alt accounts. Anyway some good people upvoted a bunch of my stuff and I'm clear as of now. If the arsehat returns I'm just going to the mods straight off. I think they know about him.

Same here, I tell people I'm 7 months pregnant with twins, most of that gain in the past decade. Seems to have stablized at least for now.

Yeah, I know who you're reffering too.

I was wondering that, based on some comments I read on your meme, if the number of upvotes can counter the effects. I regularly unpvote all memes and comments I look at anyways, as long as they aren't overly antagonistic ones.
If you ever need, just let me know, and I'll dig through older ones to upvote as well,,,

I'm an unapologetic liberal, which doesn't mean socialist regardless of what some on here might tell you. I like to keep my discourse civil and preferably intelligent; I have met more than a few conservatives on imgflip who have given me that - a good, solid debate - but generally the ideology is layered on so thick that it's hard to get them to think hard or anything else other than hurl insults. Going back and reading it I can now see how my original response came off as snooty. I was joshing with someone I perceived as a fellow traveler, not thinking about those who might look in on it. I don't apologize for poking those who won't argue logically, but generally I do try to engage politely at first.

"defending the country" includes within. That means maintaining law and order and property rights. So it would include things like prisons, police, ect. Roads are part of interstate commerce.
Also you are clearly intentionally misinterpreting the meme. It refers to direct handouts to individuals and companies (yes, I'm calling out corporate welfare). So the government should maintain some public resources, but those should be available to all (like libraries, roads, and public parks) but not given to individuals. (With the exception of those who can't work such as the disabled or elderly.)

Unfortunately, you're not going to get much intelligent feedback on that point from the left wing. As evidenced by Modda's comment, questioning the size of government automatically makes me an anarchist who wants everyone to starve.

Also, several of your points are "print and understand your own currency, and write and enforce your own laws." In an attempt to argue for your point you argued against it. The whole point of the "defend the country" line is that it is the government's duty to establish national standards and create laws. A main reason the US Constitution was written, as the Articles of Confederation was weak in establishing standards, making the new country just a set of 13 separate nations. As far as "saving for retirement", those things would be better left to people on their own (evidenced by the trillions in unfunded Social Security liabilities the federal government has).

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Exactly, we would do everything! Get your f**king government out! Darwinism: yes, save for your own retirement, protect yourself, be your own safety net. You don't make it, you don't deserve to breed, and thus should not get help. Darwinism: survival of the fittest. You obviously don't make the cut.

How do you think the government does it? With what money? Does it just come out of nowhere?

No, it's taxpayer money. By taxing you, they pretend they're actually helping you when you can't help yourself, when in fact many times when projects are done privately, due to incentives, things are better quality and sometimes less expensive.

" Mister_Fister
Really? Public Services? How much do you think it would cost to pay all of them? Individually? "

I believe there should be an opt out option.
Don't want to pool your resources and have the 5 States that support the other 45 by paying the Fed Gov't more than they get back foot the bill?
Cool, the YOU pay for all services provided by said gov't as needed, school, cops, roads in front of your property and that you use, water, oil, etc, pipelines and maintenance, etc., disaster rescue and rebuilding. Heck, I don't even believe in insurance. People should save up and pay all costs themselves, from flood damage to dental, the way people used to a mere couple of generations ago.

We have an epidemic of obesity because agriculture is heavily subsidized. Full value should be payed for your food. Pay an American a legal wage to pick your farm produce. BOOM! No more illegals, no more fat. Heckuva lot cheaper than building a wall, which we should just build around our own personal property if we so choose, mind you.
You pay HALF the value of the gas you put in that subsidized SUV. Pay full value.
Wanna stop terrorists from attacking? Hire your own personal security.

I agree with you wholeheartedly, Smartperson. WE SHOULD STOP THE PARASITISM.
Pre-Great Depression/Dust Bowl life was so much better. If you couldn't make do, then you don't make it, PERIOD. Survival of the fittest, not the whining entitled masses.
Starvation eliminates so many problems in one fell swoop, once the smell is gone.

I was being facetious, mocking the silliness of the very notions you think I am forwarding.

In other words, I'm on your side.

Humans are ALL weak, stupid, helpless creatures who can't even walk outside on a hot summer's day without being wrapped in clothes lest they die of exposure.
Without an endless array of others to assist in every need, humans are literally more helpless that a one day old chimp.

People are social creatures, not by accident, but by what they were evolved to be.

Well aren't I an idiot, someone said what I did, only more to the point:

[deleted]
Exactly, we would do everything! Get your f**king government out! Darwinism: yes, save for your own retirement, protect yourself, be your own safety net. You don't make it, you don't deserve to breed, and thus should not get help. Darwinism: survival of the fittest. You obviously don't make the cut. "

I believe there should be an opt out option.
Don't want to pool your resources and have the 5 States that support the other 45 by paying the Fed Gov't more than they get back foot the bill?
Cool, then YOU pay for all services provided by said gov't as needed, school, cops, roads in front of your property and that you use, water, oil, etc, pipelines and maintenance, etc., disaster rescue and rebuilding. Heck, I don't even believe in insurance. People should save up and pay all costs themselves, from flood damage to dental, the way most people used to a mere couple of generations ago.

We have an epidemic of obesity because agriculture is heavily subsidized. Full value should be payed for your food. Pay an American a legal wage to pick your farm produce. BOOM! No more illegals, no more fat. Heckuva lot cheaper than building a wall, which we should just build around our own personal property if we so choose, mind you.
You pay HALF the value of the gas you put in that subsidized SUV. Pay full value.
Wanna stop terrorists from attacking? Hire your own personal security.

I agree with you wholeheartedly, Smartperson. WE SHOULD STOP THE PARASITISM.
Pre-Great Depression/Dust Bowl life was so much better. If you couldn't make do, then you don't make it, PERIOD. Survival of the fittest, not the whining entitled masses.
Starvation eliminates so many problems in one fell swoop, once the smell is gone.

all that list can be done by public services, does not need to get the government involved. Last president that protected our forest was Teodor Roosevelt, don't even know why you have there, as it is right now they are barely standing and very poorly supported.

I'm pro life personally, but how about if everyone lives up to their obligations? If a child does wind up being raised by a state or federal agency, how about sending the parents a bill or garnishing their pay. Ideally, if a couple feel they don't make enough money to raise a child, get another job. When my kids were little I probably could have gotten assistance but I didn't want to go that route. Between my wife and I we had a four job family.

Yes it's obviously the very poorest and most needy who are to blame for the national debt, that's who they want you to blame, it's nothing to do extortionate amounts of money accumulated by some of the very richest, don't look at them nothing to see here, where do you think that all came from?

What in the hell are you talking about? I said it's government's problem. They're the ones who wasted trillions. They're the ones who raided Social Security to "balance" the budget.

In fact, I didn't say the word "poor" or "needy" anywhere, because as I already specified, Social Security is NOT a handout. It's YOUR money that the government takes, and then gives back at some point.

Agitation against gay marriage (even right-leaning SCOTUS approved); freedom of speech ins mass quanities (when GOP is in power speech against favored tropes are legislated against); freedom of religion - conservatives in power usually means legislation that forces conservative interpretations of Christianity on others and into law as the supreme morality.

Agreed. It just seems that conservatives loudly advocate freedom, but when someone else's freedom makes them uncomfortable it becomes an issue of morality, and the country is going to h3ll if things aren't changed.

Our rights end where another's begins. If a mother is going to kill her baby, someone needs to stand up in defense of the child. Also, if two adults of the same gender want to be more than just roommates, that's their business. But don't force me to endorse such a lifestyle. Bigotry is not the same as having moral values.

You're making my point. No one has developed the mind control to force you to endorse anything. I believe you have the right to your opinions. But where rights really end is when people try to force their beliefs on others by legalistic means of curtailing their freedoms. Both sides of the political spectrum do this, it just seems conservatives are more vituperative about it. Believe it or not I'm personally not pro-abortion but I do support its legality. I know what the procedure does, I wish there were better ways, but I believe the rights of those already present supercede and their rights must come first. That, and I have no skin in the game as I can't get pregnant.

When someone is a new born to late teen they depend on their parent and hopefully by the age of 19 to early 20s the parents no longer have to support them. Likewise is a society, we need to grow up and stop being dependent from the government. Instead we have the opposite. We now live in a time which society is not growing, they have become attached and dependent, just like my generation that you will see a huge majority of 30+ adults still living at their parents basements. I on the other hand, because I came from a communist country and used to being independent, own two homes, one which I'm renting. I have my own vegetable organuc garden so that I do not depend on the market for my food (low quality), I have my own self built water collection system, and in the process of learning how to build my own energy collecting system to go hybrid (by law can't go off grid at my location) so I do not depend on the electric company. I have built those things while still holding a job. But people in this country, US, are spoiled and conditioned to depend on others and leech free stuff. Hard work is not in their mind, is does not make sense to them, that is why they ask "how is someone going to afford for all those services?". They are but a slime dragging their fat sweaty body on the ground living off others. The fault is the parents for not teaching them better, the government for being an enabler, and the media for conditioning them and putting in their mind words like "you deserve". To me, from the very start, I acknowledge I deserve nothing, then I work from there.